Unearthing "the real England": Foreign Influences in the Landscape of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia

Abstract

Tom Stoppard's Arcadia (1993) is one of the most cohesive examples of the playwright's style. Its combination of intellectual rigour, linguistic playfulness and emotional heart also marks a turning point in Stoppard's career. The play's popularity, enshrined since its very first production at the National Theatre, stems in part from what appears to be its quintessential Englishness. However, this thesis argues that while Arcadia does posit a very particular view of national identity, the play in fact contains a multitude of influences from abroad. In this regard, "the real England" of Arcadia is not as monocultural as it might first appear. This is especially clear in the off-stage development of the Sidley Park garden which draws inspiration from French, Italian and Chinese landscaping of the seventeenth- and eighteenth centuries. An exploration of the country house in twentieth-century drama shows how Stoppard builds upon, and occasionally subverts, the apparent Englishness of this theatrical setting. Further, Stoppard's purchase of his own country house Iver Grove in 1979 has real implications for the on-stage country house in Arcadia. Iver Grove's history, particularly the presence of the Polish Resettlement Corps at Iver Grove, ties in with not only Stoppard's co-adaptation of Slawomir Mrozek's Tango for the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s, but also Arcadia's most overlooked off-stage character, Count Zelinsky. This thesis contends that these links are important to an analysis of the representation of Englishness in Arcadia, a play that presents "the real England" as much more elusive than might first be assumed.